Part 3: Voters' trust, elected officials' responsibility
The effectiveness of elected representatives is not only measured by listening to and recording voters’ opinions, but also by how they handle and resolve practical issues. Voters’ trust is only strengthened when they see that representatives truly act for the people’s interests, bring pressing issues from life to the parliament, and turn promises into specific, practical policies.
PVTS Group• 11/19/2024
The effectiveness of elected representatives is not only measured by listening to and recording voters’ opinions, but also by how they handle and resolve practical issues. Voters’ trust is only strengthened when they see that representatives truly act for the people’s interests, bring pressing issues from life to the parliament, and turn promises into specific, practical policies.
Bao Nam Commune, Ky Son District, Nghe An Province, is one of the key and complicated areas for human trafficking. Subjects often approach pregnant women, often enticing them to sell their children for a large sum of money to cover their living expenses. As long as they agree, the subjects will connect, book a car, and take these women to some northern provinces to exit the country. More dangerously, many women who have been victims of human trafficking, after returning to their localities, lure and deceive other women to sell their children. Since 2019, Bao Nam Commune Police have coordinated with forces at all levels to break up 10 human trafficking cases, arrest 18 subjects, and successfully rescue 12 victims...
Faced with this situation, the Party Committee, the government and the entire political system of the commune have also coordinated with the Commune Police to strengthen the work of detecting, denouncing, combating and handling human trafficking cases in the area; focusing on propaganda, dissemination, raising awareness and knowledge for all classes of people through many forms, such as visual and direct propaganda, banners, loudspeakers, distributing leaflets, billboards; especially building propaganda articles in the local language, videos of typical related cases to propagate to residential areas.
Mr. Lo Van Muoi - Secretary of the Party Committee of Bao Nam commune said: The commune has established a Steering Committee to ensure security and order, headed by the Chairman of the People's Committee of the commune and the Heads of the Police, Military, Fatherland Front and socio-political organizations of the commune; in each village, a team to ensure security and order, including the content of preventing and combating human trafficking. One of the tasks and activities of the commune-level steering committee is to coordinate with the teams in the village to make a list and monitor women who have returned to their hometowns from work, especially those who have gone to work far away without a specific address or have an ostentatious lifestyle in terms of money and material things in order to "lure" and connect with underage women to broker buying and selling transactions. Including making a list of underage women and pregnant women to both propagate and "watch out", not allowing bad guys to entice them. The Party Committee, government and political system also pay attention to creating conditions to support knowledge and capital for women to solve employment and stable income in the area, such as supporting models of cattle breeding, ginger growing...
Faced with the sophistication and complexity of human trafficking crimes, the National Assembly deputies of Nghe An delegation went to Bao Nam commune to work, survey, meet and grasp the thoughts and aspirations of voters; from there, they brought the thoughts and aspirations of voters and the shortcomings of real life to perfect the policy.
Based on the above reality, at the 8th Session of the 15th National Assembly, Ms. Thai Thi An Chung - Member of the Provincial Party Committee, Deputy Head of the Delegation of National Assembly Deputies of Nghe An province pointed out the legal gap leading to the long-standing difficult-to-handle situation of fetal trafficking. “Buying and selling fetuses is a new trick of human trafficking criminals. Criminals often seek out pregnant women of ethnic minorities in remote areas to lure them to go abroad to give birth and then sell them for money or exchange them for other objects. This agreement is essentially a premise for child trafficking. However, handling the subjects is difficult because the Penal Code has no regulations,” delegate Thai Thi An Chung stated the current situation. Therefore, in order to create a legal basis for the fight against crime and protect children's rights, it is extremely necessary to add a provision prohibiting the act of "agreeing to buy and sell human beings while they are still fetuses" in the draft Law on Prevention and Combating Human Trafficking (amended), meeting practical requirements, making an important contribution to the fight against the crime of buying and selling children while they are still fetuses in the womb and in accordance with the provisions of the International Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Or as for the implementation of social insurance policies in recent times, Nghe An has faced a number of significant challenges when policy changes have greatly affected the development of participants. Many localities in the period of 2016 - 2020 belong to communes in region II, region III, especially difficult villages in ethnic minority and mountainous areas, but in the period of 2021 - 2025, they are no longer on this list according to Decision No. 861/QD-TTg of the Prime Minister and Decision No. 433/QD-UBDT of the Ethnic Committee, so they are no longer supported by health insurance. Mr. Chu Duc Thai - Head of the Culture - Social Committee of the Provincial People's Council said that through the survey, it was shown that economic difficulties made a part of the people not interested in participating in health insurance, many individuals gave up after no longer being supported.
On that basis, to increase the health insurance coverage rate, the Provincial People's Council's Culture and Social Affairs Committee proposed and the Provincial People's Council Standing Committee agreed to soon issue a resolution on supporting social insurance contributions for voluntary social insurance participants and health insurance for ethnic minorities living in communes in regions II, III, and extremely disadvantaged villages in ethnic minority and mountainous areas in the period of 2016 - 2020, but these communes are no longer on the list of communes in regions II, III, and extremely disadvantaged villages in ethnic minority and mountainous areas in the period of 2021 - 2025.
In October 2023, the Standing Committee of Nghe An Provincial People's Council supervised the topic "Resolving voters' petitions from the beginning of the 2021 - 2026 term to present". Thereby, it shows that many petitions have been thoroughly resolved by the Provincial People's Committee, departments, branches and localities, meeting the aspirations of voters; at the same time, the Provincial People's Council has issued many mechanisms and policies to contribute to resolving voters' petitions such as: Resolution No. 18/2021/NQ-HDND dated December 9, 2021 promulgating the Regulation on a number of policies to support agricultural and rural development in Nghe An province for the period 2022-2025; Resolution No. 31/2021/NQ-HDND dated December 9, 2021 stipulating the social assistance standards, social assistance levels and support policies for a number of social protection beneficiaries in Nghe An province; Resolution No. 20/2022/NQ-HDND dated November 12, 2022 on a number of policies to support the development of grassroots cultural life in Nghe An province; Resolution No. 01/2023/NQ-HDND dated July 7, 2023 on a number of policies to support fishing vessels exploiting offshore aquatic resources in Nghe An province; Resolution No. 02/2023/NQ-HDND dated July 7, 2023 stipulating support policies for forest owners to carry out forest management and protection in Nghe An province; Resolution No. 05/2023/NQ-HDND stipulating support policies for cadres, civil servants and public employees working at One-stop Departments at all levels in Nghe An province; Resolution No. 09/2023/NQ-HDND dated July 7, 2023 stipulating policies to support investment in swimming pools and organize swimming lessons for children in Nghe An province...
The efforts to put practice into policy have affirmed the pioneering role of elected representatives in listening, understanding and reflecting the thoughts and aspirations of voters to the parliament. It is their close attention that has fanned the "fire" of determination, motivating all levels and sectors to develop practical and timely policies. This is not only a testament to the responsibility of representatives to voters, but also a driving force for humane policies to truly come to life, contributing to changing the face of disadvantaged areas and lighting up people's confidence.
Hung Trung Commune (Hung Nguyen District) is the hometown of the patriotic reformer Nguyen Truong To, with a population of more than 11,000, of which Catholics account for 70%. The school named after him is home to 1,000 to 1,100 students each school year. Although the locality and the school add facilities to serve teaching and learning every year, due to limited funding, the school still lacks 6 cultural classrooms and 7 subject and functional classrooms. Meeting with National Assembly delegates before the 8th Session of the 15th National Assembly, Mr. Dinh Bat Binh, Chairman of the Parents' Association, shared his thoughts and aspirations with the delegates.
Sharing with voters, Head of the National Assembly Delegation of Nghe An Province Thai Thanh Quy expressed concern that this situation has existed for a long time but has not been resolved, affecting the learning of more than 1,000 students. Based on the agreement with the Finance Department right at the conference, he suggested that Hung Nguyen District complete the procedures to start construction in 2025 with the provincial budget. "We cannot let our children lack classrooms," the Head of the National Assembly Delegation of Nghe An Province replied to the applause of voters.
For Nghi Loc district, the issue of people's livelihood that voters are concerned about at many voter contact forums is the lack of water for agricultural production. Especially in communes at the end of the water source such as Nghi Hoa, Nghi Hung, Nghi Yen, Nghi Tien, Nghi Thiet, Nghi Quang, Nghi Thuan...; there are areas that only produce spring crops, while the summer-autumn crop is abandoned or produced precariously and ineffectively, affecting people's lives. There are even times when the water level on the Cam River drops low, seawater passes through Nghi Quang sluice due to damaged gates, intruding deeply into the fields, with salinity measured at up to parts per thousand. The cause of the above water shortage is due to climate change, Nghi Loc is located in the "fresh end, salty beginning" area and the system of dams, canals, and pumping stations in many places are still temporary structures or have degraded, reducing irrigation capacity.
Based on the feedback and recommendations of voters sent by the Provincial People's Council, the Provincial People's Committee has assigned the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development to inspect and survey to resolve the recommendations of voters of Nghi Loc district. Continuously in recent years, along with the district and commune budgets investing quite a lot in upgrading the irrigation system, the Nghe An Provincial People's Committee has also prioritized allocating resources to upgrade and solidify more than 14 km of level 1 and level 2 canals; investing in solidifying Khe Xiem dam, Tho Son pumping station, Cho Cau pumping station...; maintaining, repairing 6/9 opening and closing gates at Nghi Quang sluice gate to ensure better "fresh water retention and salt prevention" in this project. In addition, currently, in Nghi Loc district, there are a number of important irrigation projects that have been approved in principle, allocated capital and are carrying out procedures to prepare for investment and upgrading from the central and provincial budgets. Including the N2 Son Thanh - Nghi Van canal with a total investment of more than 80 billion VND; irrigation canals for 8 key rice communes with a total investment of 33 billion VND; irrigation canals for Nghi Kieu commune over 10 billion VND; irrigation canals for Nghi Thai commune nearly 15 billion VND; irrigation canals for Nghi Cong Nam commune nearly 15 billion VND...
Ms. Le Thi Hien - Vice Chairman of Nghi Loc District People's Council said: Through the opinions and recommendations of voters under the province's authority, in recent years, the Provincial People's Committee and provincial departments, branches and sectors have focused on directing and resolving them. Along with the irrigation system, which is prioritized by the province to allocate investment resources, upgrade, better meet irrigation needs, improve agricultural production efficiency, some urgent recommendations of voters related to rural power grid infrastructure; granting of outstanding land use right certificates; some problems and backlogs in site clearance; policies to support agricultural and rural development... have also been addressed by the province. Thereby, it contributes to reducing people's concerns; at the same time, further strengthening voters' trust in elected agencies and elected representatives at all levels; improving the leadership, direction and management capacity of state management agencies.
After receiving the report summarizing voters' recommendations from the Standing Committee of the Provincial People's Council, the Provincial People's Committee directed the Office of the Provincial People's Committee to classify, advise on assignment, and direct provincial departments, branches, and People's Committees at all levels to resolve, respond to voters, and summarize the results of resolving and responding to voters' recommendations to report to the Provincial People's Council and the Standing Committee of the Provincial People's Council according to regulations. During the resolution process, the units paid attention to checking and verifying the content of voters' feedback, and dialogued with petitioners to resolve voters' recommendations, such as: the Department of Natural Resources and Environment organized surveys, inspections, and grasped actual information about voters' opinions and feedback on environmental pollution; the Department of Industry and Trade organized field inspections of feedback on mineral mining blasting activities affecting people; Nghe An Electricity inspected and found solutions to overcome power grid infrastructure; the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development inspected dykes and embankments at risk of landslides; The Department of Transport inspected the traffic infrastructure that voters reported as degraded, in need of maintenance and repair... Vinh City People's Committee organized many dialogues with people in the process of resolving old collective housing areas. At the same time, departments, branches and localities have coordinated relatively closely to resolve the issue, based on the functions and tasks of the sector, the scope of local management and the direction of the Provincial People's Committee. To improve the quality of resolving voters' petitions, some localities such as Vinh City have also issued a Plan to improve the responsibility, quality and effectiveness of resolving and responding to voters' petitions.
According to the synthesis from the Office of the National Assembly Delegation and the Provincial People's Council, since the beginning of the 2021 - 2026 term, the Nghe An Provincial People's Council has received, synthesized, classified, and forwarded 702 opinions and recommendations of voters and 205 petitions of citizens to competent agencies for resolution and response. The rate of opinions and recommendations of voters that were researched and responded to by the Provincial People's Committee, departments and branches in each voter contact session reached 100%, of which the rate of completion in each recent session was 81% - 84%.
Based on the assignment document of the Provincial People's Committee, relevant units and localities all send written responses to voters' petitions to the Standing Committee of the Provincial People's Council, the Office of the Provincial People's Committee, and the District People's Committee where voters petitioned to notify voters directly; at the same time, post written responses to voters' petitions on the unit's Electronic Information Portal, and send them to Nghe An Newspaper, Provincial Radio and Television Station to widely inform the content of the response.
These are new ways of doing things that demonstrate the efforts of the Nghe An provincial government in resolving voters' petitions; through which voters clearly feel the responsibility and dedication of the delegates and elected bodies with the viewpoint of "having promised, we must do", not just taking note, accepting and then leaving it there.
It can be seen that, from listening to voters to taking decisive action in the parliament, elected representatives not only act as a bridge between the will of the people and policies and laws, but also affirm the central role of voters in all important decisions. Efforts such as improving educational conditions, ensuring social security, fighting crime or removing legal inadequacies, etc. all demonstrate the responsibility and strong commitment of representatives to voters. Only when people clearly feel the positive changes from what has been promised, will their trust and companionship become the motivation for representatives to continue to contribute. That is also the core value of a true democracy: all decisions must come from the people and for the benefit of the people.
At the 38th Session, the National Assembly Standing Committee gave its opinion on the Report on the results of monitoring the settlement and response to voters' petitions sent to the 7th Session of the 15th National Assembly. Head of the Petition Committee Duong Thanh Binh emphasized: "The Government, ministries and central branches have made many efforts to focus on settling and responding to voters' petitions, demonstrating seriousness, openness and responsibility. Many petitions have been answered ahead of schedule, the number of voters' petitions received and resolved between the two sessions has increased compared to the previous session, the quality of responses to petitions has been increasingly improved...".
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